Bad service from a retailer, what are my rights?

The OP claims he turned it on, set it up and restarted the laptop, he has already changed the software in the terms of the manufacturer, which is the point i was backing up.

Again, if you go into any shop all guns blazing people wont help you, you wouldnt want to help someone if they come in and start screaming at you now would you?

No one has told him to go in guns blazing though? They weren't serious about the unique set of skills bit. :p
 
Guns loaded but not blazing. His first attempt he didn't have any ammunition, so he came here for help, he's now got the ammunition he needs to go back and be firm, polite and friendly about what he's entitled to and I think it's pretty obvious it'll go in his favour.
 
The whole software thimg only applies to the actual purchase of software as a standalone product surely? His laptop is buggered, assuming he didn't cause it himself (and the shop would need to prove that at this stage) then it isn't fit for purpose.
 
You probably refer to the sale of goods act and the 'fit for purpose' clause

Two examples of people who claimed "I know my rights" but were speaking bollards were thus...

I had a women come in who had no proof of purchase whatsoever, when I refused her request for a refund she told me "I don't need a receipt, you have to give me a refund under the Sale Of Goods Act".

I politely replied "You mean the Sale Of Goods Act 1979? Whilst you do not need a receipt as such we can ask you for a proof of purchase which generally a receipt is good example of"...she went quiet and walked off.

The second one was bizarre, the shop I was working for whilst at Uni was Argos and one guy came in wanting to buy something we didn't have in stock. When I told him we didn't have any he tried to claim that because it was in the catalogue we had to give it to him!!! I don't know what he was expecting, maybe he thought I could pull one out of my backside but I calmly told him that Argos had been going for over 20 years and if what he was saying was true I think it may have cropped up as an issue by now. I also asked him if he thought it was reasonable that the company should produce a daily catalogue unique to each store based on stock levels to ensure everything in there was always in stock. He didn't answer and just walked off.
 
The whole software thimg only applies to the actual purchase of software as a standalone product surely? His laptop is buggered, assuming he didn't cause it himself (and the shop would need to prove that at this stage) then it isn't fit for purpose.

Not quite, the laptop works, as in its hardware functions correctly from as far as i can tell from what the OP has posted, its just the software thats not working, which again, isnt covered under warranty but i agree that the retailer should swap it over
 
Not quite, the laptop works, as in its hardware functions correctly from as far as i can tell from what the OP has posted, its just the software thats not working, which again, isnt covered under warranty but i agree that the retailer should swap it over
The hard disk is corrupted!
 
Not quite, the laptop works, as in its hardware functions correctly from as far as i can tell from what the OP has posted, its just the software thats not working, which again, isnt covered under warranty but i agree that the retailer should swap it over

There is no way those software factors would trump SOGA here.

The product was not fit for purpose as it stopped working under normal operation.

I'm very surprised a big high street store would tell you to bugger off.

I'd be on the phone to trading standards. The shop would fold instantly.
 
There is no way those software factors would trump SOGA here.

It's not about trumping, it's the fact the SOGA doesn't cover software faults.

The product was not fit for purpose as it stopped working under normal operation.

But you are seeing the OS working as being part of the overall package, whilst I agree this would be common sense the law doesn't work that way.

In law the OS is not part of a functioning laptop anymore than petrol is part of a functioning car even though in both cases you realistically need them.

I'm very surprised a big high street store would tell you to bugger off.

I think we all agree on that.

I'd be on the phone to trading standards. The shop would fold instantly.

Trading Standards have no jurisdiction over this so that would be pointless.
 
No, windows is corrupt, re-read the OP
He said that Windows was corrupt and that he couldn't then recover it because the hidden partition was also corrupt.

Software is purely logical it doesn't do random failures without an underlying hardware fault to cause it!
 
Well, software can corrupt itself - a bad driver for example.

In any case though the hard drive being corrupt implies the windows install is corrupt. It's pretty much a synonym, and quickshot seems to be nitpicking.
 
He said that Windows was corrupt and that he couldn't then recover it because the hidden partition was also corrupt.

Software is purely logical it doesn't do random failures without an underlying hardware fault to cause it!

I re-iterate, WHO caused the fault is important here. If during a Windows installation I deliberately pulled the battery and plug out causing corruption that would be a case of hardware failure but one that I caused.

So even ignoring the fact that SOGA doesn't cover software, it does state that the cause of the fault has to be because of badly made goods. It doesn't cover you for deliberately or mistakenly causing the fault yourself, even if it's an easy mistake to make.

I'm not saying the OP did cause the fault, but if the way he described it to the store gave the impression he did they are within their rights to refuse the exchange.
 
Well, software can corrupt itself - a bad driver for example.

In any case though the hard drive being corrupt implies the windows install is corrupt. It's pretty much a synonym, and quickshot seems to be nitpicking.
Inherent bugs in the code are repeatable though, unless there is a suggestion that all the same model of laptop behave in the same manner then it's not the case - either way it would definitely not be fit for purpose.
 
I re-iterate, WHO caused the fault is important here. If during a Windows installation I deliberately pulled the battery and plug out causing corruption that would be a case of hardware failure but one that I caused.

So even ignoring the fact that SOGA doesn't cover software, it does state that the cause of the fault has to be because of badly made goods. It doesn't cover you for deliberately or mistakenly causing the fault yourself, even if it's an easy mistake to make.

I'm not saying the OP did cause the fault, but if the way he described it to the store gave the impression he did they are within their rights to refuse the exchange.
In the first 6 months it is upto the retailer to prove that the customer caused the fault and not that the product was inherently faulty.
 
It's not about trumping, it's the fact the SOGA doesn't cover software faults.

The software media has to be covered though. If that original software media breaks or is corrupted then that needs to be replaced. If that is on the hard drive then...
 
[TW]Fox;21937461 said:
Could you please quote the part of the SOGA where this distinction is made?

The word 'goods' in the SOGA is defined legally as "all personal chattels other than things in action and money" and a 'chattel' is an object that can be moved. Hence intangible objects are not covered by SOGA.

This is a grey area, and the EU have tried to clarify the situation but not actually implemented anything. You have to remember that the SOGA was written before the digital age so I'd expect an amendment before long.
 
The word 'goods' in the SOGA is defined legally as "all personal chattels other than things in action and money" and a 'chattel' is an object that can be moved. Hence intangible objects are not covered by SOGA.

But it can be argued that an operating system sold as part of a computer system is part of that tangiable object.
 
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